Conveyer for bottle-washing machines.



2 SHEETS- Patented May 2,1916.

NEH I.

c. A. MILLER. CONVEYER FOR BOTTLE WASHING MACHINES. I

APPLICATION I'll-ED IUNE 22. ISIA- C. A. MILLER.

CONVEYER FOR BOTTLE WASHING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED 1UNE22, x914.

1,181,912. Patenfed May 2,1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- 'IIIIIIIIIIIIII I flan Wm,

Qtinrnngs UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES ALVIN MILLER, 0F BAINBRIDGE, GEORGIA, ASSIGNOR TO MILLER MANU- FACTURING COMPANY, OF BAINBBIDGE, GEORGIA, A CORPORATION OF GEORGIA.

CONVEYER FOR BOTTLE-WASHING MACHINES.

will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to conveyers, and more especially to those of that type which include an endless belt and article holders or cups thereon; and the object of the same is to adapt the cups in size and shape for the support of bottles in inverted position so that they may be washed and rinsed, and

to so shape and locate the driving Wheels and idler wheels as to coact with the belt and cups and maintain the bottles upright. In carrying out this general idea the invention also employs a framework with shafts for supporting the various wheels, a power shaft for rotating the driving shafts in unison, and housings for containing thelwashing and rinsing mechanism and through which certain stretches of the belt are led forward and backward in a sinuous course.

My preferred manner of carrying out the invention is described below and shown in the drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the entire machine, the hood' ofone housing being omitted, that of the next broken away, and that of the third housing in place. Fig. 2 is a partial section through one of the driving wheels, and a detail of the Worm mechanism for rotating its shaft. Fig. 3 is a plan View partly broken away showing how the cups are supported by the links of the chain belt. 'Fig. 4 is a cross section through the chain belt and thetrack for supporting it. Fig. 5 is a cross section through a modifled form of belt and track and the spray pipe beneath it, and Fig. 6 is a fragmentary longitudinal section through two of the cups of the belt and the spray pipe, omitting the track.

As above suggested, the conveyor forming the subject-matter'of the present invention is intended primarily for use in carrying inverted bottles through a casing or casings which contain washing and rinsing mechanisms of that type in which. the liquid is Specification 6: Letters Patent.

Patented May 1916.

Application filed June 22, 1914. Serial No. 846.710.

jetted upward into the open mouths of the bottles to wash the interior thereof, and

may also be simultaneously applied tothe exterior in any suitable way. N 0 claim is made in the present case to any details of the washing or rinsing mechanisms, but the use to which thisconveyer is put oannot'be lost sight of and its construction is especially adapted to such use.

Referring to'the drawings, the numeral 1 designates generally the framework having front and rear members 2'connected by' side members 3. Mounted in suitable bearings on the 1 rear member are upright driving shafts 4 (two being shown inFig, 1) to which are secured driving sprocket wheels 5 and 9. These shafts and'wh'eels are rotated in unison and in'jthe same direction by suitable means, herein shown as a horizontal power shaft 6 carrying worms 7 which mesh with worm gears 8 on the driving shafts 4 as seen in Fig. 2. However,

the power might be applied to only one of the driving sprockets or if the machine were larger and more of such sprockets were employed the power might be applied to all of them. I will describe the left end of Fig.

1 as the rear of the machine and the right as of the framework are upright shafts 10 and ,1

12, and in the present illustration the shaft 12 stands between the other two shafts and slightly further to the rear, and these shafts respectively carry smooth faced idler wheels 11 near the corners of the framework and an intermediate smooth faced idler wheel 13 as shown. Supported on beams 14 within the framework is a housing consisting of a tank 15 divided by partitions 45 into sections, and

the sections are covered by hoods as indi-- cated at 20 and 21, their flanges 22 being secured by screws 23 or otherwise to the flange 18 of the tank. Within the several sections of this housing are disposed pipes 44 having perforations 43 in their upper sides so that ished from the washing mechanism in that the bottles will usually be washed with hot water containing a caustic solution, whereas they will usually be rinsed with cold clear water. hoods over the housings will be left open so that the carrier belt hereinafter described may pass forward and backward through the same, and the bottles in those stretches passing through the sections of the tank 15 are Washed, whereas the bottles in that stretch passing through the rinser 48 are rinsed.

The belt formingpart of this conveyer may be in several forms, but herein I have shown only two--the first being illustrated in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4, and the second being illustrated in Fig. 5. The belt itself is a chain such as commonly used on sprocket wheels and thelike, and it comprises rectan'gular links 29, each having a hook 30 at one end and a reduced neck 31 at the other end over which the throat 32 of the hook may be passed, whereby the links are separably but pivotally connected in a well-known manner. The peculiarity of this belt lies in the fact that its links carry and are preferably formed integral with lugs 28 shaped as best seen in Figs. 2 and 4 and projecting laterally from the chain, and the outer end of each lug carries and is preferably merged integrally into an article holder in the shape of a cup. As this device is by preference used for carrying bottles, said cup preferably has an upright cylindrical body 26 open at top and bottom, and the upper end of this body is flared internally and externally as shown at 27. The size of the body is such that it fits within notches 42 in the periphery of either driving sprocket, and the upper ends of these notches are flared as at 49 to receive the flared upper ends 27 of the cups. The latter in turn receive the inverted bottlesas indicated at B in Fig. 6, and this view links on opposite sides of the chain as best seen in Figs. 1, 3 and 6, and to an extent the cups 26 with their contents counterbalance each other as seen in Fig. 4; but in a simpler form of this conveyer it may be desirable to hate the cups on only one side of the chain, and in that case lugs 38 are employed connecting the cups with the links as best seen in Fig. In the double form best seen in Fig. 4 a bar or track 35 preferably extends across the tank 15 and underlies the section of belt therein, and the lower edges of the lugs 28 slide on this track while the inner faces of the cups 26 slide against its sides.

With the construction shown in Fig. 5. this track may be an angle iron having its upright leaf 39 underlying lug 38 and standing The front and rear ends of the.

between the chain and the body of the cup, which body yet slides against the side of tilt! track while the lug 38 slides upon it. n this case the weight of the chain part1 counterbalances the load within the cups, ut thui shape of the lug 38 permits of a larger. traqk being used. The track may be employed 1 when the distance between the sprockets and idlers is considerable, but I do not wish t be limited to its use.

When this improved conveyer is employ for washing bottles as illustrated herewith the bottles will be taken from a table 46 an the front of the machine and applied totltd cups in the belt which is moving in thefdia rection of the. arrow. An given bottle passes first under hood 21, t en around 1th sprocket 9 and under the hood 20, t around the intermediate idler 13 a through the remainin section of the he ing whose hood has removed drawings, and during its several tri s to u fro through the housing the bottle 18 re edly washedby jets thrown up througm perforations 43 of the spray ipes 44, as tW tubular structure of the bottlia cups 2611m mits the s ray or jets to enter the bbttl mouths an also prevents the trapping of t? liquid within the cups. Finally the bot 13 passes around the sprocket wheel 5 through the housing 48 where it is rinsed i clear water, and at some point he 0nd salll housing an operator takes the was ed off the carrier. If he should discover thlitl any given bottle is not thoroughly clea by this time, he has but to leave it oil. carrier when it travels a ain through course outlined and is was ed and rinseda second time. Meanwhile the o rator adjacent the table 46 sees this cup ull and wi act accordingly.

The provision of a double series of cu" disposed in staggered relation along a chain not only causes the bottles in a meast' ure to balance each other with or withflhfl the use of a track, but also utilizes m0 space on the chain belt for the carriers tl ti could be utilized if the carriers were all one side. In that case they would have be smaller, or the links larger, or the carrie connected with every other link. The use a l smooth-faced idler wheels permits the pa sage of the belt and the contact of either th faces of its links or the bodies of its cups and in the arrangement illustrated in Fig. where stretches of the belt ass forward backward within the housing, I find it vantageous to have all the idler wheeld'a the front of the framework and to set the intermediate wheel a little to the rear of a liri between the other two, so that the parts of? the belt moving in opposite directions not interfere with each other.

What I claim is:

' 1. In combination, a plurality of sp wheels mounted on upright axes and having peripheral rounded notches, a belt passing around said wheels, and a series of conveyor elements carried by the belt, each element having an upright cylindrical body adapted to enter a notch and its upper and externally flared to a size larger than its body, for the purpose set forth.

2. In combination, a plurality of s rocket wheels mounted on upright axes and aving peripheral rounded notches, a chain belt passing around but out of contact with sa1d wheels, and a series of conveyor elements carried by links of the belt, each element having an upri ht cylindrical body adapted to enter a notci and its upper end larger than its body for the purpose set forth.

3. In combination a sprocket wheel mounted on a vertical axis and having peripheral notches larger at the upper than at the lower side of the wheel, a belt, and a series of conveyer elements carried by and laterally offset from the belt and shaped to complement said notches.

4. In combination, a plurality of s rocket wheels mounted on upright axes and aving peripheral rounded note as flared at the upper sides of the wheels, a chain belt passing around said wheels, and a series of conveyor on s laterally oflset from and carried by said be t at intervals to register with said notches each cu having a cylindrical hollow body interns ly and externally flared at its u er end so as to complement an notch.

6. n combination, a driven sproc et havin formed in the periphery thereof a plura ity of notch the upper portions of which are enlarge and flared, a chain and a plurality of cups extending from said chain and formed complementari y with respect to the notches of said sprocket and adapted to enter them as the sprocket is driven.

6. In a conveyer, a horizontal chain belt standing on edge, and cups carried by its links and on alternately op osite sides thereof; combined with wheels or said belt, each havin peripheral notches to receive one series 0 cups.

7. In a conveyor, a horizontal chain belt standing on edge, and cups carried b its links and on alternately opposite sides t ere of, the cups being externally enlarged at their upper ends; combined with wheels for Copiers! this patent may be obtained for the seats said belt, each mounted on a vertical axis and having peripheral notches to receive the bodies of one series of cups while the enlarged portions of said cups stand above the wheel.

8. In combination, a plurality of spirocket wheels mounted on upri ht axes and aving peripheral rounded notc ies flared at the upper sides of the wheels, a chain belt passing around said wheels, and two series of conve er cups laterally offset from the opposite si es of said belt and disposed in staggered relation to each other with those 0 each series at intervals to register with said notches in one of the whee s, each cu having a cylindrical hollow body internal y and externally llared at its upper end so as to complement any notch.

9. In a conve er, a horizontal belt standing on edge, an two series of conveyor elements carried by and on opposite sides of the belt and disposed in staggered relation to each other; combined with a drivin sprocket wheel having its periphery notche to receive the elements of one series, and idler wheels having smooth peripheries over which ass the elements of both series.

10. n a conveyor, a horizontal chain belt standing on edge, and cups carried b its links and on alternately opposite sides thereof; combined with wheels whose eripheries are shaped to on age one series 0 cups, and a track along w 1058 upper edge the chain travels while the cups of both series slide along its sides.

11. In combination,aplurality of s rocket wheels mounted on upright axes and aving peri heral notches flare at the u per sides of t e wheels, a plurality of id or wheels having smooth peripheries, a belt passing to and fro around all said wheels, and two series of conveyor cu s laterally offset from the opposite sides of said belt and disposed in sta gored relation to each other with those of sec series at intervals to re 'ster with said notches, each cup being flare at its upr end so as to complement any notch.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CHARLES ALVIN MILLER.

Witnesses:

M. E. Nossaaon, Cnas. V. Pnnnr.

each, by addressing the "commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. O." 

